Gian Kaegi

In his artistic practice, Gian Kaegi explores the possibilities of sculpture as a three-dimensional construction. Working at the intersection of installation, sound, and movement, he engages with questions of identity, rhythm, and action within patterns and cycles. He creates hybrid structures that bring together a wide range of materials and techniques, combining new elements with what already exists. His practice draws inspiration from architecture, history, and social movements.

Reflections on Zahn der Zeit and Art Dock, Zürich:

How does context shape your artistic process?

In my work, I respond to the spaces that surround me. The materialities and aesthetics of my environment are reflected in my visual language. I understand places as sources of inspiration that reappear in my work in an abstracted form, as similarities and references.
I do believe, however, that the relationship to the site of exhibition places the works in a different context each time. This does not happen directly during the process of making. Rather, each exhibition becomes a kind of testing, a process of endurance. Formal, tactile, or material affinities, as well as contrasts, extend the work. In this sense, every new location initiates a new dialogue. That is what I find most compelling about exhibiting, even though it is something I cannot influence during the making process.
When I interact with the work through a performance or a concert, however, the audience, the site, its atmosphere, and its history become significant influences. In these situations, the work enters into a direct relationship with its surroundings, and the context actively shapes the experience.

How did Art Under Dock shape your performance?

I was drawn to the formal and aesthetic affinities between Art Under Dock and my work. The vaulted arches, the limewashed walls, and the lines of the railway tracks surrounding the building all resonated with my visual language. It became particularly evident how strongly the exhibition space and its context influence a work. The fragility of a place and its own history inevitably shape the way a work is perceived. Within this setting, the work came to be read through the lens of the site's transience, urban transformation, and impending loss.
What I found especially compelling was that the abstract sense of vulnerability and imminent disappearance did not correspond to the spatial experience itself. Instead, the space conveyed protection, stability, seclusion, and a sense of shelter. This tension between the physical qualities of the site and its underlying narrative created a productive contradiction.